How to protect yourself

Always be careful when receiving an email from any person claiming that he/she in possession of millions of dollars and need assistance in transferring the funds to another country. These are all scams!

Conduct search engine queries on the information contained inside the email, such as telephone numbers, names, addresses and email addresses. You will often find websites referring to the scams that are committed.

Look up the contact information of the institutions used in the letters on the Internet and contact these institutions at the numbers or addresses on their official websites to confirm the transaction.

If offenders make use of websites, ensure to make use of Whois facilities, such as www.whois.sc in order to check the ownership and establish dates of the websites.

If banking institutions are mentioned in the letters, never make use of the website addresses given by the sender. Look up the bank on the Internet and determine the correct internet address and contact the correct bank to confirm the transaction.

When requested to travel, decline these offers. Rather advise the writer to meet you in your own company in the presence of law enforcement agents.

There are a number of sources where you can find more information on these scams, such as: waronspam.com , thescambaiter.com